{ 01 ☪ VIDEO } backdated to Sunday evening

[rideofthefearlings]

[ The video feed starts with a sobering sight: Jack Frost, motionless and deathly pale, his hair no longer white but chestnut brown, features recognizable but bruised, angry, ugly marks ringing the teen's neck. He's been thrown carelessly against a nearby wall at the top of one of the Stairways leading down to Dismas, the gnarled wood of his staff just barely visible in the corner of the shot. There's enough scenery glimpsed for anyone who's familiar with the area to be able to narrow down where this is taking place, despite the way the shadows are shifting and writhing as though alive.

Pitch speaks though he remains off-screen, giving the viewers a good chance to see exactly what's going on. ]

Someone come and clean this mess up.

---

[ OOC: Immediate aftermath of this thread. Pitch won't be answering replies and will be long gone by the time anyone responds, sorry! ETA: Jack will be responding to people once he wakes up. ]

Comments

[Video]

[purgation]

[That form is recognizable, even though its condition is far from ideal; it is that voice that is unfamiliar to Yuri, and it brings several questions to mind.]

[Who does it belong to?]
[Are they responsible for what has happened to Jack?]

[Either way, it isn't a voice Yuri will forget, but it's not the voice he directs his call towards. Keeping his tone calm, he says:]

Jack Frost?

[Hoping for some sign of life. A flutter of the eyelids, a hitch of breath...something. Anything that isn't unresponsiveness, that isn't stillness and silence. Anything that will mean he doesn't need to don Lunatic's mask this early on, risking raising suspicion...]

Can you hear me?

[Video]

[icy]

[ Hours later ... Jack responds off his own device on Pitch's post. ]

I'm alright now.

[ Hair back to white, he even offers a thin smile. The good cheer is gone, though. ]

[Video]

[purgation]

[White is better than not, but Jack's disposition leaves much to be desired. Strange, when under ordinary circumstances Yuri would be quite glad to see the spirit simmered down.]

Now.

[But after how many hours?]

What happened?

[Video]

[icy]

I was taken to Dismas.

[ Shugging, he hopes that explains itself since he's not keen on voicing the details. ]

[Video -> Action]

[justice_is_blond]

[There's anger in Anders' eyes because he knows where that is, knows what that means, and he's heard that voice before. He's already moving as he speaks. The focus is helping bring some of the color back to his own skin.]

Mess? Is that who you were looking for, Black? If that's your name. If he's... There will be Justice. Know this.

[The feed ends; Anders is too busy moving through the streets and trying not to trample small children. He's there before too much longer, kneeling beside Jack and trying to keep an eye out for the man with golden eyes.]

Jack? Can you hear me?

[Anders casts... to find nothing. No life, no response. He's quiet for a moment, kneeling there, torn between the last quiet cries of Justice to go hunting, the Calling backing that desire up, and the knowledge that what he needs to do is get Jack's body to the makeshift morgue. The latter wins out and he gets up to grab Jack's staff, strapping it in with his own, before lifting the man and turning to head back.

There's nothing else he can do right now, really.]

[Action]

[nightlightly]

[ by the time he emerges, nightlight is standing--well, fretting--by the entrance to dismas, staff clutched in his hands, glow dim and flickering, sputtering like a candle flame. he'd tried, but-- dismas is guaranteed to extinguish him. there's no way he would have made it down to jack, found a way to get him back up to anatole, and then actually managed the trek back up. thank goodness for anders.

he knows the man's only seen him once, and briefly, but he hopes he'll remember him as someone jack knows. they really don't have the time for explanations, and nightlight needs to make certain jack is going to be okay. the younger guardian was a human, a spirit now, and nightlight doesn't really know what that means. his experience with them is relatively minimal, after all.

his 'voice', when it comes, is telepathic, youthful and conveying his worry and fright and frustration even better than his admittedly animated gestures tend to. ]

Dead, he's dead? He's--
Souls don't die, why--
--Help? Need help? How should--

[ why had jack gone to see pitch? alone. he'd gone alone, even knowing what the nightmare king is capable of. had it been because of what nightlight had said--? ]

[Action]

[icy]

[ It starts en route from the moment Dismas is put behind him. Jack's hair stains white at the tips, soaked through like the rest of him from sweating out ice but lighter all the same and the change discernible. His skin remains as leathery and bruised (the finger-marks around his throat at their darkest in angry blues and purples) but there's little else in the way of change for a while. Had he not been underground, it could be sworn he's spent a significant amount of time underwater. ]

[Action]

[justice_is_blond]

[The little light is startling for a moment, but Anders realizes what's going on quickly enough. And thankfully he's got enough experience with Mordred's telepathy to understand another voice in his head. All he can do is hope the music in his own head doesn't wind up doing anything to Nightlight.]

It's Dismas. It... Spirits are silenced there. I don't know exactly how it works, or why, but Jack's a spirit and so Dismas...

[His voice trails off and he shakes his head.]

I don't know why he went down there again. Of all the stupid places to go. The Mist would be a better place to wander into, but no, he had to go into Dismas.

[And because Anders is so emotionally mature, his concern has a habit of manifesting as frustration and anger.]

He knew what it did to him. What it would do again. And I don't know if there's anything you can do to help. He's dead. Dead is... dead. Until they come back, if they come back.

Video

[itsrealforus]

[Severus looks horrified. And why not? It looks as though his new friend is dead.]

Jack?!

Video

[icy]

[ Hours later ... Back to white-haired and pale (save for the bruises around his neck, but with his hood up he hopes the kids won't notice) he grins into the camera as if to banish the previous recording. ]

Hey! I'm okay, I'm okay. Just ... got a little messed up there, but I'm fine.

Video

[itsrealforus]

[Severus may have spent this intervening period crying and fretting. No kid likes to see Father Christmas dead, and Jack Frost is on the same plane for him just now. First snowballs and all.

But he cheers up considerably when he finally gets a response.]

What happened?! I was so worried and I didn't know where you were or else I would have come found you!

Video

[icy]

No! [ Snapping, he raises a hand as he winces. ] Don't do that, don't ever go into Dismas, Sev. Promise me that you won't even if you see someone that needs your help down there.

[video]

[littlestbird]

Ser Jack?

[it's a thin, stricken cry, and again:]

S-ser Jack!! W-wake up...

[video]

[icy]

[ Hours later ... The comforting sight of Jack smiling placidly connects to her Forge. ]

I'm alright, Sansa. I'm awake now.

[video]

[littlestbird]

[She runs to it, nearly tripping over the rabbit that's been following her since the day before.]

What happened to you? You're not hurt?

[She's very obviously been crying. Her face is pink and puffy and she'll cover her cheeks when she realizes it.]

[video]

[icy]

[ Oh, gosh, precious child. ]

No, no, I'm fine, I promise. [ His smile brightens considerably in a bid to prove it. ] Tell me where you are, sweetie, I'll come and show you.

[Video]

[formerly_four]

[Jack?]

[This is...late. Sophia hadn't thought much of it when she'd seen it at first. Someone had made a mess of themselves and a friend would come by to clean it up; that kind of thing happened regularly with humans. But another glance later on to check up on the situation had revealed...well. Responses. And children talking to someone she couldn't see.]

[So it is carefully that she gives the Forge a tap to garner attention, and even more carefully that she says:]

Jack Frost...? Was that...is that you?

[Video]

[icy]

[ Hours later ... He texts her from a well-lit rooftop. ]

I'm awake and alright now, don't worry! :)

[Video]

[formerly_four]

I'm glad.

[You looked...dead. It's what she thinks, but she doesn't want to say it. As someone who has been through death before, she knows that it can be a sensitive topic.]

I didn't recognize you at first...or I would have responded more quickly. Perhaps I still should have.

Are you really all right, though?

[video] I hope I'm not too late orz

[eatenbylight]

[Even without the white hair, Ginko still recognizes the person who played in the snow with him. He lets out an audible gasp, accidentally sending it along with a glimpse of his face before his Forge switches off again.]

[text] never!

[icy]

[ Hours later ... This would be an ironic tentative text after he notices the quick connection. ]

You okay?

[Video forever because texting is hard]

[eatenbylight]

[He's peering at this, looking a little baffled because technology how does it work.]

Is he... is that boy...

He looks... [He's trying to find a word other than 'dead' because he doesn't want Jack to be dead.] ...sick.

[psionichax0r]

What the hell man!

[Someone looks pissed.]

[icy]

[ Hours later ... ]

Hey. [ A lame wave. ] It's okay! I'm alright, Sollux.

[psionichax0r]

[He looks relived for a very small second before the anger from before all comes rushing back.]

Bullshit! Who was that guy?